Faculty Lounge Dedicated

Thelma Duncan Sawyer Faculty Lounge Dedicated

-As Dr. Nelson Stresses Need for Alumni to Give Back to UL

Mont. Sen. Saah Joseph Pledges 10 Buses, Laptops, Others

 

At the dedication of a newly furnished faculty lounge of the Amos Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Liberia, the university’s President Prof. Dr. Julius Julukon Sarwolo Nelson, Jr.  has passionately pleaded with members of the alumni of the University at home and at broad to give back to their alma mater as their contributions towards strengthening the UL to a standard comparable with other advanced universities around the world,  reports Bill Jarkloh.

Prof. Dr. Nelson  spoke at the  elaborate and colorful gathering during which Montserrado County Senator Saah H. Joseph pledged to  donate 10 buses and some laptop computers with payment pledge for three months internet. The occasion  marked the dedication of the first faculty lounge ever at the Fendell Campus of the University.

The Thelma Duncan Sawyer Faculty Lounge is to e first on the Fendell Campus in Louisiana, Montserrado County. Located at the immediate left flank of the entrance to the China Building of the Campus, the lounge is intended to be  host faculty members of the Amos Claudius Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities. The lounge was dedicated on December 2, 2022 with senior administrative staff members and an array of departmental chairpersons and faculty  members in attendance.

 Named after the wife of the late Liberian political scientist and former Interim President Amos Sawyer, the  Faculty Lounge was established through the initiative of the Dean of the College, Prof. Dr. Josephus Moses Gray with funding from the  Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASCORP).

During the outdoor program, Dean Gray welcomed the dignitaries – UL President Nelson, departmental chairs  and distinguished faculty, having given an brief overview of the establishment of the lounge and how he secured funding for the initiative.

It was at about 10:30 AM when the Master of Ceremony, Mrs. Cecelia Tartee Reeves, an adjunct faculty of the Department of English and Language Studies, called on the University’s President Dr. Nelson who cut the ribbon to the entrance of the lounge after a prayer by  UL Faculty and Prelate, Geography Department Chairman Rev. Jethro S. Tamba. Then the attendees of the occasion stated to flock into the beautifully decorated and spacious hall designated to be the lounge for faculty members of the premier college of the Lux in Tenebris, the University of Liberia, gazing at the well-arranged conference table surrounded with black modern chairs, while properly arranged plastic chairs were seen at the western end of the lounge where the entrance is located.

A wide television screen was visibly showing  international news on the CNN; variety of plagues decorated with African arts, a well polished floor and a host of interior design elevated the  beauty of the  Thelma Duncan Sawyer Faculty Lounge especially when the glides of the shine from the morning sun stream through the glass window.

 The program was immediately called to order, and the initiator of the idea of a faculty lounge at the Fendell, Dean Gray, dressed in a smart western suit epitomizing that of a French scholar he is, took the stage, gave an  overview of the project and noted how NASCORP funded it. “Because I solicited the funding for the project, everything seen inside here was purchased in the name of the project and every receipt for each of these furniture carries the name of the project,”  Dr. Gray said. He then present the keys of the lounge to the UL President Nelson who in return turned it over to a proxy of the President of the UL Faculty Association.  The ULFA the turned the keys over back to Dean Gray.

Following these formalities, the UL President, the Rev. Prof. Dr.  Nelson, embarking on the dedication, called upon the chairman of the Geography Department who too is a clergy. “Dedications are meant to be  performed by pastors. So I am calling Rev. Tamba to join me in performing this task,” Prof. Dr. Nelson noted. Then the duo perform the dedication dwelling on the passage from Psalm 127: 1-2 which reads “ Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders build in vain; unless the Lord  watches over the City, the watchmen watch in vain.”

Then came the climax  of the of the occasion when the keynote speaker of the program, Montserrado County Senator Sarah H.  Joseph took the podium. His speech, which was extemporaneous, focused on development of the tertiary education in the country, especially the development of the University of Liberia. “I am happy to be here to visit with you people,” Sen. Joseph said  and added that his visit was an opportunity to interact with administration, instructional staff and professors.

The Senator expressed the need to equip with enhanced logistics. He pledged 10 laptop computers and promised to pay for three month’s internet for the UL, pointing out that he will work with the administration to ensure effective transportation for student and faculty.  “It is not a good thing for students and faculty to be fighting over bus. I will  work with the University authorities to ensure that the University secure 10 buses to enhance the transportation of teachers to work,” he further promised.

“The University of Liberia should not be renting buses;  instead, the University can own it’s own buses. But let us see by the end of next year, we can have 10 buses. But the issue of management is important because when I give the buses, I will not like to see them grounded, I will like to see them maintained,” he averred.

Similarly, he spoke against the use of armchairs by students at the University of Liberia. He said the students need better chairs that the armchairs the presently use.  “Look, at this age students are not supposed to be sitting on armchairs. Students are supposed to have improved sitting capacity at the University here,” he noted.  Although he did not pledge to donate chairs, he notwithstanding pointed out, “A lot of institutions abroad are changing their facilities, all you do is to put in for those they are changing for the students.”

He explained how he is constructing a colleges around Montserrado and noted that one of the colleges is in the New Georgia, Gardnersville, which he said he will open on his birthday. “I can assure you that I have acquired some modern chairs for the college,” saying that he would work with the University of Liberia to be able to get some teachers for the college.

Commenting further, Senator Joseph abhorred the continued strike actions that usually disrupt normal instructional activities. He said instead of protestations, the students and faculty should relate to his office so as to push their case forward. “Instead of strike actions, you can tell me the problem and I will  push your case,” he said.

He noted that no one can change things at the University except the faculty, and intimating that the message the faculty give to the students is what the propagate in the society.

He counseled that unions of the student and the faculty could make themselves viable for their members by engaging into productive activities which could generate resources for them.

“Take the situation of the teachers Union in Sierra Leone for example where the built modern hotel  which they used to generate revenue for members…,” he explained, saying that the faculty association of the University and /or the student Union could engage in similar productive activities that could improve the lives of their members.

Also speaking at the dedication of the lounge, the Student and Faculty Centered President of the UL, Prof. Dr. Nelson expressed gratitude to to the leadership of the Amos Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities for their innovation and creativity during the time of their work together with the UL Administration which he leads, and the  praised the Dean, Prof. Dr. Josephus Moses Gray for the initiative. He implored  deans of other colleges to follow suit.  

He however noted that facility members of other colleges should be welcomed to use the facility.

Concerning the pledges by the Montserrado County Senator, Dr. Nelson thanked Senator Joseph for the pledges of the buses and laptops to the Amos Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

He agreed with  Senator Joseph that maintenance of the buses would be key to their operation as the University would not expect the donor to fuel and maintain the buses.  

UL President Nelson alluded to discussions he held with students who amongst other things have contended against increase of UL bus fairs from L$20 to L$50.  He noted that the increase of the fairs on the buses to  campus is due to increase in the cost for fuel, and pointed out however that administration and students representative have finally resolved that students will be paying L$50  to board the University buses and added that eventually the fair would be revisited on subsequent semester.

In a related development, Dr. Nelson called on the alumni association of the University of Liberia to show interest on giving back to the University. He related a meeting with some alumni members of the UL which he said he requested to give back to the University. Although he said the meeting with the diaspora UL alumni went well, he made similar passionate appeal to members of the Alumni Association  of the UL to also give back to the University they graduated from.

“I told the diaspora alumni of the University that they may have attended other universities that the might have attended and be proud of such as Harvard University, but I reminded them that Harvard is Harvard because of the contributions of its alumni to that institution,” Dr. Nelson said. He added that the University cannot improve to the satisfaction of alumni when they are not willing to contribute to its improvement.

The program was as attended by various departmental chairs of Amos Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities, on behalf of whom The Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies Spoke when he lauded the creation of the Thelma Duncan Sawyer Faculty Lounge, and expressed optimism that the facility will be used properly.

Also remarking, a Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Elliott Wleh Wilson frowned of the persistent strike usually by students and faculty, and maintained that the University of Liberia which should be the flagship university of the country should not go for agitation as a way of resolving it’s problems. According it is a disgrace for the University of Liberia faculty and students to employ strike actions as a means of seeking resolution to their problems instead of dialogue, adding “We need not to demonstrate; demonstration cannot bring the needed solution to our problems; we need no noise makers at an institution such as the University of Liberia.

Meanwhile, Mr. Martin Cooper has been designated by Dean Gray as the caretaker of the lounge.

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If There Shouldn’t Be

‘Room for Error & Laxity’

-Mr. President Must Lead By Example There Must

By: Bill K. Jarkloh

When I was a boy, my dad told me that leadership is by example and not only by words or instructions. Any liaise faire leader who recused themselves from overseen tasks assigned or fail to countercheck progress made is often doomed to fail. This being printed on my minds, I am always aspired to lead by example to inhibit laxity and errors, and to eschew failure. This is why our attention is drawn to President George Manneh Weah’s annual message for 2020, when finally took cognizance of the carelessness and avoidable mistakes in the government of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), which have invited volumes of criticisms to the Weah-led administration. It was gladdening that at least for once, the Chief Executive has admitted that things have been done wrong during the past three years of the present regime when he commendably “…mandated the entire machinery” of his administration to recalibrate and enhance the focus of finding lasting solutions to the “bread and butter issue facing our people” because there is NO ROOM FOR ERRORS, NO ROOM FOR LAXITY. So the looming questions is, will the past errors be corrected to give the masses of the people relief? These thoughts are against the backdrop of weighing on whether there were indeed laxities, and if yes, when did the President recognize these errors and laxities on the part of his public officials? With this article, I also intend to examine the sincerity of Mr. President Weah by the statement, and how he will ensure that this directive impact the country and curtail or minimize the errors laxities alluded to by the President?

From the general point of view, the president’s mandate which tends to crave for functional democracy and emphatically indicate that there will be no room for error and no room for laxity means well for the Liberian people; it is a brilliant mandate applauded on the very floor of the joint session of the 54^th Legislature even by the very Legislators themselves, who constitute the representation of the masses of the people. But the truth to this is that the mandate must be exemplified by action and leadership example.

Correcting past errors and laxity

In the spirit of the president’s pronounced mandate to public officials, the sincerity will be tested when the chief executive moves to correct grave noticeable errors and serious laxities that are visible. Indeed while there are a lots of errors and laxities in the operation of the CPP government, it is noteworthy to remind the President that leadership is or should be by example. The first and notable error that affects national conducted and should be corrected to start with is the one affecting the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission where a thief of Liberian nationality, Ndubusi Nwabudike, sits and is being supported by taxpayers’ money despite clarion national call on the President to remove him. The issue of Nwabudike at the helm of the LACC is attached to the conduct of public officials, to correcting and mounting checkpoints for errors and carelessness in the public and ensuring that the President’s desire to give the LACC prosecutorial powers is not just but a mockery. The issue is serious because it borders on perjury which is lying under oath and forgery which is also a crime.   So yes, there have been uncountable errors all along since the inception of the governance process starting from 2018 January, which have been affecting the very “bread and butter” issues being raised. Those who called themselves pro-poor defenders applaud the diverse missteps that have accompany the regime administration. The Issue of graft, indeed affects the “bread and butter” of the people when no good attention is given it. Surely the fight against corruption is feeble and will not hold, unless those who careless coveted state financial and material resources and lay to claimed national status in error – like in the case of Ndubusi Nwabudike - are brought to book.

The second which is both an error and a laxity that need to be corrected is the administration of the COVID-19 stimulus package by the government’s team headed by Professor Wilson Tarpeh. Some 30 million United States dollars – 25 million USD from taxpayer’s money with five million from the World Food Program - was invested in the stimulus package of assorted food and food kind. As a matter of ‘error’, nearly every household was marked inscriptions COHFSP followed by a number representing the house, and the enumeration covered nearly everywhere within Monrovia and its suburbs, although the government contended that the package was for vulnerable people at a time everyone was sent home from job and offices were closed due to the outbreak of the Corona virus.  

Despite of this good intention and investment, which is done in nearly every country affected by the COVID-19, the administration of the stimulus package has since been questionable as nit has not reach not impacted the lives of the people.  While the rigmarole was on, instead of trying to correct the situation and to audit the stimulus package, Mr. Tarpeh was removed from Commerce and awarded the lucrative Environmental agency. To date, nothing is heard of the package which seems to have ended in the homes of relatives, friends and love ones, or ended in private pockets of those entrusted with the funds - [an audited is needed as corrective measure].   

As we speak, the delivery of the stimulus package remains a mirage to the ordinary Liberian in Montserrado; the rice, beans and oil is only seen in market places with truck loads passing up and down delivering the package to ghosts while the noise of the faulty delivery and administration of the COVID-19 package still remains an outstanding street corner talk.

Laxities in social service delivery

Having said that, there are perennial errors and laxities in the system. But for our students and unlettered folks others who should also understanding what the President meant by NO ERROR, NO  LAXITY, we say the president was admitting recognizably that so many me official make too many mistakes at their offices and exhibit a large degree of carelessness in their offices. This is much graved in social service delivery ministries and agencies, such as the Liberia Electricity Corporation, the Liberia Water & Sewer Corporation, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry etc. 

As a matter of fact these agencies feel they should be supported with taxpayers’ money and without delivering to justify and protect the portfolios they have been paid for. Many a time the LEC is careless of whether people’s appliances will be damage or not. They carry current without prior warning to consumers, which is uncivilized and is therefore an act of laxity. So they often cause damage to electrical appliances of some consumer with impunity because that agency apparent believes that government entity cannot be sued.

For them, it comes the prerogative of consumers to sort themselves out if their appliances are damage from irregular supply of power – no matter the value of that appliance damaged by the power fluctuation. This act of carelessness – LAXITY, and it becomes customary to the operation of that entity in its relation with consumers.  If the President is to mean well for the people, this is time that this laxity be corrected through a policy that will obligate the LEC to restituting appliances damage by b it irregular power supply.   

The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LW&SC) is also one that should be focused in this discussion. That entity does not care who gets safe-drinking water or not. The LW&SC obliges everyone to dig a pit by their residence in the name of well for unsafe water to residents. Why shouldn’t diarrhea and other water borne diseases be prevalent?  The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation does care of the consequences of not delivering on their mandate. Its authorities instead feel by their appointment, they are untouchable and unanswerable to the people. If a mandate of this kind should work for the people, it carelessness of the authorities must pursued with punitive administrative action. This is where the President is seeing at fault for not delivering this service to the people; and so yes the appointing authority has now recognized that NO ERROR, NO LAXITY – meaning President b Weah is ready to change course. 

What’s about the appalling inefficient public transport sector? The Ministry of Transport is indeed one of the ministries that is causing the government the level of unpopularity it suffers as reflected in the 2020 midterm senatorial election. What kind of sector will have its regulatory arm but is left to run by itself?  This is the extent to which public transport sector operates leading to the gross exploitation of commuters by commercial vehicle drivers.  It its operation, it only runs behind motorist for licenses and stickers in the name of revenue, with no interest in the welfare of the general population. Certainly, this too is LAXITY – I mean carelessness at its zenith. Every government is constituted for the welfare of the people as enshrined in the constitution; and any attempt to by the government to betray this sacred mandate is absolute carelessness, a LAXITY that should be reprimanded also with administrative action. If I were to suggest to the President what should happen, for this reason, I would recommend that the authorities concern should sack at the Minister of Transport for doing nothing to regulate transport fares at the detriment of the people. By the way, is the Minister and his team sleeping – or decided to ignore his duty? Can’t he see that the commercial motorists are exploiting the commuters? Is the government comfortable with having a transport ministry that allows the public to be exploited by bus and/or taxi drivers, tricycles or motorbikes? It is a shame and an act of carelessness which the President refine to call LAXITY. When the people say we are suffering, these are the services they lack, services for which they voted the government to power.

Unfortunately, however, we have a case of the National Transit Authority (NTA) which should have intervened to reduce the transportation fiasco as a worst case scenario. But sits on the fence and looks at the people suffer. All it does is to be out there for charter trips while the government apparently and deliberately uses the buses donated to the Liberia people by friendly countries and peoples for corporate/official uses and highway transportation. Is this a mistake or ERROR or naked carelessness or LAXITY?

Another concern is about running the trade and commerce in the country by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Since 2018, this sector has degenerated to a nirvana of petty traders and The Lebanese and Indian merchants who are even selling cool aid without Commerce Ministry’s intervention, thereby allowing them to go about profiteering unduly at the expense of the consuming public. Such carelessness for the welfare of the people creates high cost of living as prices of basic commodities becomes self-regulatory in the full view of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Professor Wilson Tarpeh, who was initially designated apparently betrayed the purpose of that calling, sat there until recently without doing nothing about the high cost of living. Even the successor of Ministry Tarpeh seems to be relaxed. The core function of that ministry, which is to regulate the cost of basic consumable commodities, is now reduced to the issuance of press releases. There is no longer tangible value of five dollars; 10 dollars is only good for a candy and the cost of Living has become astronomical due to LAXITY at the Ministry. The above constitute a semi-graphic picture of what the ordinary people go through in addition to exorbitant school fees charged by private institution, can this  act of LAXITY continue, or will the  situation be reverse in the wake of this presidential mandate?.

Concerning the Health and education sectors, they too have their take of ERRORS and LAXITY.  Government hospitals are the poor with no equipment and drugs, just as the public education system lacks conducive learning atmospheres equipped with libraries and laboratories as well as good siting environments for learning,   For the Public Hospitals are operating on the “no-drug” syndrome while most of the public health workers operate private clinics and mini health centers or medicine stores that are well equipped with the best of drugs and equipment. Certainly the wave of LAXITY in the government should not even be called ERRORS, errors being mistakes that are not always made; instead, they should be referred to as the carelessness – LAXITY – which is prevalent in public sector. 

The “Our time mindset”

Call it LAXITY or ERROR! They started from the onset of the CDC styled of democracy. Any democratic government must seek to act on information, which is key to a functional democracy.  This is why the third President of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson says: If you asked me about a society without press, and a press without a society, I will choose the latter.  According to Mr. Jefferson, “A press that is free to investigate and criticize the government is absolutely essential in a nation that practices self-government and is therefore dependent on an educated and enlightened citizenry.” To the contrary of this famous thought and philosophy, the CDC government’s information operatives started to shoot problem for the young government. At as early as January 2018 when the George Weah’s appointees started the problem saying that the Weah-led government does not need the press to succeed. President Weah’s first Press Secretary Sam Manneh, Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Eugene Fahngon and Jefferson Koijee are all on record saying this government does not need the press to succeed. This wasn’t really a laxity, it was indeed an error on their part. President Jefferson who was a strong supporter of democracy said the newspapers too often take advantage of their freedom and publish lies and scurrilous gossip that could only deceive and mislead the people but Jefferson himself who suffer this suffered greatly under the latter kind of press during his presidency was a great believer in the ultimate triumph of truth in the free marketplace of ideas, and looked to that for his final vindication. For a young and inexperienced government to say it does not need the press to succeed is a serious ERROR which the Liberian Media took advantage of to vigorously checkmate the emerging excesses of the CDC administration from its inception.  What was the result? And so the reality had caught up with them.

Though branded the media an “Ellenic media” that was only there for the past regimes, the independent Liberian media landscape was attracted to the ruling party as a result of the practices of acts of nepotism and favoritism of ruling party when it embarked on employing unqualified people into offices where they couldn’t perform. This act therefore burdened the system with overemployment, while some civil servants were at the same time booted off their offices and ripped t off their duties. Again, this euphoria of “this is our time” was a grave ERROR that have militated against the performance of the government.

And so square pegs were put in round holes, performance started to go bad, and the image of government began to be obscure at home and abroad.  When the media which the CDC didn’t need to succeed started checkmating the performance of the government, the resultant excesses along the corresponding image that was being developed, the regime embarked on flexing muscles at journalists and radio with threats and other arbitrary brutal actions for asking critical questions as was in the case of BBC correspondent Jonathan Paye Lelay, political commentator Henry Costa, the late Zenu Miller and many others.  They did not stop, pro-government personalities started to sponsor and support pseudo-independent newspapers and radio stations that have obviously become defenders of the wrong – sorry, for the purpose of this – call it “ERRORS AND LAXITY.”  

IN THE BEGINNING…

This also speaks to the fact that whatever errors made should not altogether be attribute to the Presidency even though he as leader bears greater responsibility. Notwithstanding, most of the errors are precipitated largely by carelessness on the part of appointed officials who were designated and assigned public service duties that they do not attend to.  Even the President himself has been a party to the error-making, by not holding his appointees accountable and by appointing people with questionable characters with no remorse.

The “bread and butter” issue raised by President Weah started to showcase itself in the country when prices of basic consumable commodities started to rise, when the transportation sector become self-regulatory and when the money market started to embrace liquidity problem characterized by fluctuation of the rates of the United States dollars to the Liberian dollars in the face of acute joblessness caused by the euphoria of “this is our time” mindset which witnessed an influx of unqualified CDCians into civil service.  I mean it started with increase in the prices of petroleum products after the Unity Party regime, 

In the midst of these stories, it became public that a freshly printed load of batch of banknotes, at about the value of 100 million United States dollars were reported missing. This obscured affair started with previous Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Government which had commission the a US Company, Crane or its Swedish subsidiary Crane Currency AB   to print the controversial banknotes which was to be delivered late 2017, the year of the Liberian election that effected change of the system. Interestingly, the breaking of the news of the “missing 16 billion Liberian dollars” came when the Government had already announced that it inherited a broken economy, a claimed that was rebuked by the predecessor of President Weah, Madam Johnson-Sirleaf who said she left money in the public coffers.

But that was not the main issue; the issue surrounding the missing money was whether the delivery to the government was properly done, and that which of the regimes – Sirleaf or Weah administration – took delivery of the printed billions of Liberian dollars. Amidst s the controversy over the “missing 16 billion” Liberian dollars, ROOM FOR ERROR was obscurely created when the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Information, the Ministry of Justice and the Central Bank of Liberia started to issue uncorroborated statements concern the controversy. As though adding insult to injury, the chairman of the ruling party, Mulbah Morlu said he saw a pickup full of money heading towards a certain direction. These amalgamated accounts concerning the “missing” money generated huge protestations from angry suffering Liberians.  The situation was grave because when George Weah promised “transforming the lives of all Liberians” as the “singular mission” of his presidency when he was elected in 2017. (aljazeera., 2020)

 The international wires reported Critics saying Liberia’s economy has worsened because of Weah government’s incompetence and failure to address corruption. Soon when the the 53-year-old man marked two years in office on January 22, 2019 that the poor and young voters who assured Weah’s landslide victory discovered that the economic woes of the country have worsened under his leadership, with critics laying the blame squarely on the lap of the government’s incompetence and failure to tackle corruption. 

PRE-WEAH STATE OF THE ECONOMY

When the Sirleaf Government was leaving power in early 2018, the country witnessed continuous depreciation of the Liberian dollar against the U.S. dollar. Then the local currency was traded at a street value of LD$130.00 to US$1. In a recent analysis, a Certified Public Account, J. Yanqui Zaza, catalogued the reasons for the depreciation of the Liberian dollar between 2005 and 2017 by saying “The demand for the US dollar has contributed to the decline of the value of the Liberian dollar since 2006.  It declined from LD 62 to US $1 dollar in 2006, to LD 108 to US$1 in 2016, and in 2018, it is now LD$126 for US$1. Don’t tell me that one needs to be told that the Liberia doll lost value as much as 200 LD to 1USD. “The exchange rate decline is now been exacerbated by the liquidity crisis. (Dodoo, January 26, 2021)

From then up to present, many other rooms for “ERRORS AND ROOMS FOR LAXITY” have been generated in the governance process.   As discussed earlier, some of these include gross delay of salaries, an appalling transport system, and high cost of living with no price control mechanism on the part of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and selective justice system coupled with other societal mishaps embracing insecurity. 

Yes, the Weah inherited an economy badly hit by a collapse in global prices of rubber and iron ore which is Liberia’s key export commodities. This is in addition to the Ebola crisis of 2014-2016 that aggravated the economic stagnation in the country, where 83% of people live on less than US$1.25 a day (WFP, 2019). But the president promised to turn the economy around by fighting corruption, increasing foreign investment and creating jobs for the poor. All of these good promises that motivated the President’s election into are here to come by as there has not been enough tangibles that will impact national life. Though the popular vote President Weah receive at the polls in 2017 as due to popular thought amongst the ordinary people that making this man a president would have severed the suffering of the poor people since he knows what it means to be struggling or to suffer in life as a grassroots president who is also from a slum community.  

In its January 20 report, Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, a Liberian Civil Society group said the president had fulfilled only seven of his 92 promises, of which five had been completed during his first year in office. The Aljazeera online news quoted the group, that “These include revising the national school curriculum, passing a long-awaited land rights law and capping the salaries of senior government officials at $7,800. Some progress was made on 38 pledges, Naymote said. On the economic front, these included steps to reduce tariffs on basic commodities, upgrades to key infrastructure such as roads and the introduction of loans for small businesses.” However, Weah’s government had failed to begin work on 32 promises, the report said.

But the group reported “no tangible actions on promises around accountability and anti-corruption, explaining that those pledges included setting new rules to prevent public sector graft and pursuing legal action against companies involved in bid-rigging and other corrupt practices.  As the economy worsened with inflation hitting 30 percent and civil servants reporting months-long delays to salary payments and health practitioners as well as Maritime workers engage a regular course of protest for pay, more than 10,000 people took to the streets in protest last June. Thousands of people rallied once again in Monrovia on January 6, before being dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannon (Rouse, 28 Jan 2020).

   As a matter of fact, teargassing people for demanding their just entitlements (salaries) is an error and delaying people from taking their pay on time constitutes deprivation which amounts to laxity on the part of authorities concerned. So with these trends,  the people feel disappointed with a system in which a Minister of Commerce who cannot regulate the cost of basic communities, where there is a Transport Minister who allows commercial motorists to decide fares for commuters, a Central Bank that  has up to date failed to ensure policies that will revive the money market, a Finance Ministry who has miserably failed to put the economy on good footing but will rather waste US$25 million into an oblivion in the name of mob-up exercise. In the face of the acute economic debacle, there is laxity on the party of the economic management team to address the liquidity problem, or at least by telling the public the amount of legendary notes, the amount on the newly printed notes in circulation, but yet embark on seeking approval.  

A Liberian Rights Advocate, Kofi Wood recently addressing an array of opposition politicians said “The Weah-led government , Woods said, has deployed old and poor habits of governance, suppression, glaring incompetence and lack of integrity since it assumed power three years ago, adding that “we have also seen the minimum of reforms undertaken in the past reversed or undermined.” Atty. Woods, a onetime minister of Labor and Public Works under former president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, said greed, wanton and pervasive corruption, injustices, violations of the constitution, and violations of all elementary norms of human decency are making up the record of the Weah-led government. “The CDC government shamelessly defends against honest criticisms and justify their mistakes by pointing to the previous government as if their measure of performance is what they perceived as the missteps of the last government,” Woods said. “The so-called wrongs of the last government can’t be your right. If it was wrong then, it’s wrong now.”

CONCLUSION

 Amidst the disappointment in the governance that culminated to the wakeup call the electorates gave the CDC administration President Weah has warned his officials that in his quest for functional democracy to make no room for mistakes and carelessness (ERRORS and LAXITY). But before we forget, the President needs to be serious by that statement. This seriousness should be translated to avoiding running the government a s friendship club at the peril of the people. Ever since the Liberian people have noticed that most of the officials of this government have made careless mistakes which have operated against the very government he heads, and by far damage the economy of Liberia. Today, Samuel Twe remains the Finance Minister despite the careless mistake of wasting perhaps into some private pockets including his taxpayers 25 million  United States dollars that was entrusted to him; Wilson Tarpeh is awarded the Environmental Protection Agency after  he mismanage 30 million United States dollars intended for stimulus package intended for vulnerable Liberians who need support in the wake of the outbreak of the Corona Virus; Nbudisi Nwabudiki is still swinging his hands after he criminally stolen Liberian Nationality – sitting at the LACC, etc. A successful leadership must endeavor to always lead by example. If there should be no more error and laxity, Samuel Wulu and the Minister of Commerce must begin to regulate the fares of transportation for commuters, the Water & Sewer Corporation must get to work to supply save drinking water to the people, and the Liberia Electricity should be made efficient. It is because of these laxities in the government that the Weah administration during the by-elections of 2018 and the Midterm Senatorial election of 2020 the people voted against the CDC which obviously provokes the warning giving by President Weah to executive officials. 

Prof. Samuel Kpanbayeazee Duworko Is Dead

                                                            

LMC Hosts Forest Governance Forum for Editors

LMC-PR-02 (Monrovia) 22 Sept 2020 - Liberia Media Center with support from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Multi-Stakeholders Forest Governance Project (MFGAP) convened an editors' forum at the Corona Hotel last Friday to build a leading network of editors from the print and electronic news organizations throughout Liberia. The Forum which was focused on Forest Governance within the Context of the Voluntary Partner Agreement (VPA) between the European Union and Liberia was also intended to build upon a commitment to improve reportage around the forest sector and to promote editorial excellence. Here are some scenes from the function. Addressing the Forum, the three panelists that addressed the occasion called on journalists to also focus on development stories in their reportage. Press Union of Liberia’s (PUL) President Charles Coffey; Heritage Partners and Associate (HPA representative, Atty. Sagie F. Kamara, Sr.; and the Forestry Development Agency (FDA) Managing Director C. Mike Doyen said the forest sector of Liberia needs attention in the reportage of the media. The three panelists observed that the media is focused more on politics than development. Mounting the podium first, PUL President Coffey calls on journalists to begin to set the agenda for forest governance and best practices in the country that will create awareness amongst the people from destroying the Liberian wildlife and nature. Mr. Coffey pointed out that there are concerns in the public that journalists of the local media are under reporting the forest sector and other development initiatives, saying most of their reportage is on politics. He said the media can influence good forest governances that could engender best practices as provided for in the VPA provided reporters and editors make those issues media agenda items. For his part, the HPA representative, Atty. Kamara implores forest trained journalists to accomplish the tasks for which they were trained, adding that it does not need special forest reporting training in colleges and universities to equip journalists to effectively create awareness amongst the people on forest preservation and governance. Kamara noted that it is difficult to achieve the kind of specialization that some journalists may want to shift their trend of reporting from politics to other spheres of societal engagements. He said researching the Constitution and the laws in relation to the sector and the VPA will generate the appropriate awareness of forest governance amongst the citizenry of the country. The VPA, he said, is part of the international laws Liberia is signatory to. He implores journalists to take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act to enhance their reportage of forest governance and other development stories. At the same time, FDA Managing Director Mike Doyen historicized the establishment of the Forestry Development Authority and disclosed that FDA does not have autonomy, saying that funds generated by the FDA from its operations goes to the government’s consolidated account. He disclosed that the key in forestry is “sustainable forest management” and added that 30% of the Liberian forest by law is put aside for conservation, explaining that 1.2 million hectors of the forest is off limit to human activities. Mr. Doyen said 400, 000 hectors of the forest is protected and pointed out that there are three national parks. “All of these are done to promote environmental stability in the country,” he narrated. ' Speaking about economic stability of the forest, Doyen said the Voluntary Partnership Agreement signed between Liberia and the EU in 2011, along with other laws, intends to protect the use of the forest, and therefore focus on forest governance. “Each log extracted from the forest is from a source,” he explained, adding “… at least 50% of the logs cut from the Liberian forest stays in the country in the form of taxes.” Mr. Doyen also intimated that traditional forests containing sacred places are protected from harvesting, but clarified that logging in these forest sources is done based on negotiation. Regarding “livelihood versus forest protection,” the FDA boss said the FDA is moving forward with its green economy program and has conducted a study from which data obtained will be used to monitor deforestation and the health of the Liberian forest, as well as eco-tourism development in the country, etc. He noted that Liberia is moving from wildlife hunting to a country that respects animals’ rights. Besides, he indicated that there are policies in place against pit-sawing, and for cut-off residue regulation. The policies, he maintained, would create more jobs in the sector. “We have taken significant steps towards forest governance and have made enormous progress in the sector, but there are still challenges,” Mr. Doyen concluded. Meanwhile, an LMC staff, Mr. Bill Jarkloh who moderated the forum said the occasion was intended to help editors of media institutions associated with the MFGAP to identify newsroom innovations, trends, tools and practices whereby participants will share intelligence through their interactions, networking events, research and editorial policies,

For his part, the Project Coordinator for MFGAP at the LMC, Mr. Francis S. Brewer disclosed that the Forum followed the training of 52 Liberian journalists who benefitted from two rounds of training that focused on basic facts about the VPA and other legal frameworks that govern the forest sector and investigative reporting. # # #

Pres. Weah Says of Pro-Poor Agenda Framework:

Pres. Weah Says of Pro-Poor Agenda Framework:

“They Are Looking for Trouble”

--Thomas Woewiyu Warns, Foresees Rebellion If…



By Bill K. Jarkloh/0886468244

Jucontee Thomas Woewiyou has broken silence after a long time of quietude on the political landscape of Liberia, warning that the government is looking for trouble if it continues to pay extravagant salaries to officials while 83 percent of the population lives on a dollar and twenty –five cents a day.

Woewiyou, a former Grand Bassa County Senator, also frowns on laws against pluralistic participation in governance, citing recent law still pending before the House of Representatives from the Senate which has raised registration for legislative positions from US$700 to US$7,500.

The New elections bill provides that one of the eligibility criteria for a candidate to contest legislative seat is to tender a non-refundable amount of US$7,500 to the National Elections Commission. But Mr. Woewiyou said if passed, the law is intended to entrench present legislators whom are paid US$15,000 of taxpayers’ money at the Legislature by preventing potential legislators from contesting their seats.

The former Minister of expressed dissatisfaction with the high salaries paid some officials, making specific reference to the US$15,000 being paid to a legislator as salary plus benefits and US$30,000 paid the Maritime Commissioner and an excess of US$20,000 paid the Minister of Finance as their respective salaries when the vast majority of taxpayers were living in abject poverty.

Some rebellion is going to start

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The ANALYST at his residence at the outskirt of Monrovia, Mr. Woewiyou considers as an “abomination and a crime against humanity” the consumption in extravagant salaries paid officials who are paying no taxes, indicating that the people are paying their hard earned money in taxes to government for their welfare. “If you are consuming whatever little society has at the detriment of others, is a crime against humanity and you should expect trouble when the people rise up against you,” Mr. Woewiyou emphasized.

He did not only speak about the high salaries paid officials and how it may be the reason for rebellion, he spoke of the new elections law that is being passed at the legislature and how raising the fees for candidates is equally an abominable offense resistible amongst others, proffering a solution to save the situation.

He said for the country to be run in a way that people are making all kinds of salaries and demanding huge benefits while 83% of the people are living on 1.25, “I think they are looking for trouble”.

“The most important thing the government should consider,” he warned, “is that as soon as citizens wake up and realize that they are living on up to 1.25 a day and paying taxes to people who are making more than 15,000 a month, then some rebellion is going to start, and we don’t want to go that route,” Mr. Woewiyou declared.

Beginning his exclusive with The ANALYST, Mr. Woewiyou, a former Defense Minister of Charles Taylor’s defunct NPFL diagnosed that the government is broke because of the manner public funds are expended to officials in huge salaries in the absence of inadequate economic activities in the country at a time there is not a lot of industries working in the country.

According to Mr. Woewiyou, “Even though we have more of less attracted this 16 billion dollar investment, the companies here are not working, they are not employing. However, when a government finds itself in such a distrait, it needs to take actions that the citizens will know that the government is broke, that the government is facing financial challenges.”

Never before even...

Questioned what then is the solution to what he called “the economy in a distrait - meaning it’s getting broke, Mr. Woewiyu said, “the solution now is is to scale down the huge salaries to US$3, 000 to US$5,000, and use the surplus from these salaries to support education and health.

“We see what happened in the health sector recently; the nurses and medical workers struck - around the country maybe there were more than three hundred of cases dying because there were no medical personnel at the hospital.”

For this, he said, :… a person living on 1.25 a day and is paying taxes, and you are taking the taxes in the name of our people and our people dying because you are taking the bulk of the taxes, that is crime against humanity. “

He explained that the government is paying to some officials, extravagant salaries that never before even when there were industries working in this country, no government was paying a salary equal to this one. “The government needs to look at the kind of salaries it is paying legislator – 15,000 USD a month plus benefits of all kinds and certain ministers of government making the excess of $20,000 a month; but 83% of the people lives on $1.25 a day,” he said.

“You just sit down and calculate the person who makes 37.50 that is 1.25 a day, if you calculate that by year which is 450.00 a year and divide it by 15,000, that is it will take that person 33 years to consume 15,000 as his earning, while it will take a civil servants who is paid $100 month 12 and a half year before he can earn 15, 000 which is the salary of one person in the government who is practically paying no tax,” Mr. went into mathematical deduction of his argument

According to him, he was appalled to have heard from the Minister of Finance and the President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate that the Liberian economy is in a dying state, meaning it is getting broke, but noted that these officials are saying the government is getting broke without saying why and what to do to recover from the economic doldrums that they are announcing.

Commenting on the US$30,000 monthly salary paid the Maritime Commissioner, Mr. Woewiyu said he would understand why a Liberian living here like any other individual would be paid that kind of salary when LISCR, a Shipping agency is being paid in millions to administer the Maritime Program.

He added that the President should be blamed because if she never sign the budget, it will never you into effect. “If she doesn’t sign it, if she sends it back to them telling that … what you are doing is ridiculous, you are looking for trouble,” these huge salaries wouldn’t be paid out to officials at the expense of the people and the economy.

Raining Day in Hell

Commenting on corruption as the second vice that got the economy broke, Woewiyu said the money is not used for properly and what it is budgeted for. He cited the 200 million the President reportedly spent on Public Relations to foreign firms as captured by the U. S. Congress’ report, saying that it is useless to spend such a huge amount on Public relations abroad when the Liberian people do not have safe-drinking water and electricity, which no amount of public relations will wide.

Woewiyou then described the president Senate as “law passers” who go about passing laws that will only serve their interest. He cited the new election law that is pending before the House for concurrence, which when passed will raise registration feeds from 700 to 7,5000.

The one time warlord and public official called on all Liberians to prevail on their representatives not to concur with the Senate in passing such a law that has the tendency to perpetuate bad senators in power by disenfranchising potential good legislators.

He also called on the President to veto elections law being enacted if the House should concur, saying that any attempt by the Legislature to override such a veto will be what he called “a raining day in held.”

Govt Confirms Five Suspected Ebola Deaths in Liberia

The Liberian Government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has confirmed the death of five persons suspected to have contracted the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Lofa County.

Addressing a special press briefing at the Ministry of Information on Monday, Liberia's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Bernice Dahn, said all of the five suspected cases were people who came from Guinea for treatment at hospitals in Foya and Zorzor Districts in Lofa County.

According to the Liberia News Agency (LINA), Dr. Dahn said four of the dead are female adults, while the fifth casualty was a male child.

Meanwhile, the Liberia's Chief Medical Officer stated that the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and its partners have dispatched an assessment team to Lofa County, to investigate the situation by tracing contacts, collecting blood samples and sensitizing local health authorities about the disease.

She said the assessment team also took with them protective equipment such as face masks, gloves and goggles to protect health workers in affected facilities.

She told the press conference that the team also took with them chlorine to disinfect the affected hospitals, as surveillance along the border is being strengthened.

The current outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic Ebola Disease, according to Dr. Dahn, said the disease started in the Guinean towns of Guekedou, Nzerekore, Kissidougou and Macenta which are very close to the Liberian border.

The Chief Medical Officer then called on Liberians to avoid direct contact with body fluids of infected or dead people as well as physical contacts such as kissing and handshakes.

She also advised Liberians in the affected areas to wash their hands frequently, avoid direct contacts or consumption of animals such as fruit bats and monkeys, and to always chlorinate their drinking water in order to prevent this deadly disease.

According to Dr. Dahn, sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, as well as internal and external bleeding are all symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus and as such, persons suspected to be suffering from Ebola should be taken to the nearest health center immediately.

In a related development, tests on the suspected cases of deadly Ebola virus in Guinea's capital Conakry are negative, health officials say.

On Sunday, United Nations officials said that the virus had spread to the capital, a port city of up to two million, from remote forests in the south, where some 61 people have died.

The government has sent out text messages, urging people to stay calm and wash their hands with soap. Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.

There is no known cure or vaccine, the government said, naming the symptoms of the deadly hemorrhagic disease include internal and external bleeding, diarrhea and vomiting.

Neighboring countries such as Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone are said to be on high alert in case the disease spreads. The BBC Focus on Africa TV reported that Mauritania has closed its border with Mali, for fear of Ebola. Mali borders Guinea and Mauritania.

Five people are already reported to have died in Liberia after crossing from southern Guinea for treatment, Liberia's Health Minister Walter Gwenigale told journalists, while reports from Guinea account for 50 death in Guinea.

However, it is not clear whether they had Ebola.